The migratory locust is the most widespread locust in the world and the only species in its genus. Most of the time it lives alone like an ordinary grasshopper, but when crowded it changes color and shape and forms swarms that can strip crops. It lives across Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, but not in the Americas, so you won't find it wild in the United States.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Adults are roughly 1½–2½ in (40–65 mm) long, with females larger than males. Solitary adults are green or brown; swarming adults are darker brown with yellow. Swarming are yellow-orange with black spots.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- grasslands
- river floodplains
- farmland
- Range
- Found across Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. It does not live in the Americas, including the United States.
Behavior
- Diet
- Mainly grasses. An adult can eat about its own weight in fresh plants each day.
- Social life
- It switches between a solitary phase and a swarming phase depending on crowding. Swarms can hold 40–80 million locusts per square kilometer and travel 3–80 miles (5–130 km) a day, usually flying downwind at 9–12 mph (15–20 km/h).
Life cycle
- Nest
- Females push the tip of the abdomen into the soil to lay their eggs.
Name and classification
- About the name
- Many subspecies have been described across its huge range, such as the African migratory locust (L. m. migratorioides) and the Malagasy migratory locust (L. m. capito), though experts don't agree on all of them.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- It is eaten as food in many places; Switzerland allowed it as food in 2017, and in 2021 the European Union moved to approve frozen, dried, and ground migratory locust.
- Its genome, about 6.5 billion base pairs, is one of the largest known in insects.
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